In today's society, it is common to use some form of a computing device to search for, access, and even exchange data with others over wired and/or wireless networks. This data may include different types of structured data, such as audio, video, image, messaging, program, and the like, as well as other types of unstructured data. Consequently, there is a demand for networked file systems that can store large amounts of diverse types of data while also providing relatively fast and reliable access to the stored data.
In response to this demand, various file systems are available to provide access to files that are stored in relatively large data stores. However, just providing access to relatively large networked data stores can be inadequate for many applications. In many instances, providing fast and reliable access over a network to stored data can be just as important as the amount of available storage on a data store. Additionally, although many data storage file systems enable a user to easily store large amounts of data, most do not provide efficiently identify users that over consume storage resources and their corresponding files that should be deleted or archived in a less expensive data store.
Also, some applications employ data backup mechanisms that require fast and reliable access to relatively large amounts of data in remotely located data stores. These back up mechanisms may employ mirroring, replication, or the like, which are typically used to copy large amounts of data to multiple data stores at different locations. There is a need for a file system that can rapidly identify a user that is over consuming their portion of data storage resources and also identify those user files that could be deleted or archived. Additionally, the efficiency and cost of employing these data backup mechanisms to mirror data may be reduced if unneeded files are quickly identified and deleted and other rarely used files are archived. Therefore, it is with respect to these considerations and others that the invention was made.